  Neve Campbell (Veronica Henri, QMI Agency file photo) |
Eleven years ago, Neve Campbell forgot the first rule of scary movies.
Namely, that nothing ever stays dead and buried.
Not Halloween. Not Friday the 13th. Not Nightmare on Elm Street. And certainly not Scream, one of the most lucrative horror franchises in box-office history.
"I swore up and down to the press at the time that (Scream 3) was the last one," Campbell remembers.
So naturally when the studio approached her to reprise the role of tormented but seemingly death-proof heroine Sidney Prescott, she was reluctant.
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"It took some convincing," she says. "I was really hesitant."
After all, she still believes that a decade ago, the series -- which spawned legions of imitators (i.e.: I Know What You Did Last Summer) -- had legitimately run its course.
"At the time another one didn't seem interesting. We had done those three movies back to back "¦ and I thought another one would be pushing it."
But she was ultimately persuaded to return -- not just by the twist-filled plot of Scream 4, which again splices multiple homicides with humour -- but because friends and family kept telling her the possibility of a Scream sequel had many people online excited.
"People seemed nostalgic about it."
Eventually she was reunited with fellow survivors Courteney Cox and David Arquette and legendary horrormeister Wes Craven, who at the age of 71, Campbell describes as "sharp as a tack."
Their involvement makes this latest Scream an almost-quaint throwback to a bygone era when frightfests weren't rebooted, recycled and remade; they were just numbered.
That said, this third sequel, opening Friday, also introduces a next-gen ensemble of young actors. Among them: Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Marley Shelton, Alison Brie and Adam Brody.
Campbell, 37, is well aware of how young -- like 20-year-old Roberts -- some of them are. "Those kids were five when the first Scream came out, so I hope to God their parents weren't letting them watch it."
The original Scream, of course, redefined the genre by deconstructing the very cliches it celebrated.
Even as its teenagers were being hacked and sliced by a masked wraith, they behaved as though they knew they were in a horror movie.
But if the 1996 version was about film geek culture, Scream 4 updates its thematic bearing, taking aim at celebrity, social media and instant fame.
"What I like about the movies is that they're not just self-referential, but they deal with the pop culture at the time," Campbell says.
"And right now it seems to be about reality TV and the quick fix, quick fortune, quick fame. But also this generation is communicating in different ways and that's affected how they relate to each other."
It's not a terribly flattering portrait, either. If the worst thing you could say about the teens in the original Scream was that they watched too many movies, the adolescents in Scream 4 are texting, tweeting, live-streaming narcissists.
"Sadly, it's a bit sinister at the moment," she says, noting that not only has technology altered how young people interact, but that they're growing up in "challenging" times -- with financial, political and environmental meltdowns, literally and figuratively, happening daily.
Of course Campbell is well schooled in the culture of celebrity.
Consider the snark she suffered when she was photographed in a black bikini in Hawaii last year. Campbell in turn has lashed back, stressing she's perfectly healthy and pointing out there are more pressing issues in the world than her weight.
That episode aside, however, she has managed to maintain a lower profile since the 1990s when, in addition to Scream, she was starring in the popular TV series Party of Five and making a splash (literally) with Denise Richards in Wild Things.
For one thing, the films she has made -- such as Closing the Ring, The Company and When Will I Be Loved -- have been smaller and more personal.
"I don't know that it was a conscious choice (to step back from stardom)," she says. "I never made a choice to be in the limelight."
However, she did make the decision to relocate from Los Angeles to London, where she is "more anonymous" and where she continues to live after divorcing her husband of three years, actor John Light.
She says residing in Los Angeles -- where everyone who lives there (well, almost everyone) is in the entertainment industry -- left her uninspired.
"My influences weren't the typical American ones," says Campbell, who was born in Guelph, Ont., to a Scottish father and Dutch mother.
Nor are her career choices typical.
With Scream 4 about to open, she is planning to travel to India shortly to shoot Singularity, a period drama that stars Josh Hartnett and is being directed by Roland Joffe (The Mission, The Killing Fields).
"(Joffe is) a beautiful filmmaker who actually cares about character. For an actor, that's a rarity that he talks about character."
Most up-and-coming directors, she adds, tend to be "obsessed with camera angles and shots and special effects. I find that challenging."
Campbell has also developed a strong streak of social activism. She volunteers at and supports the Botshabello orphanage in Gauteng, South Africa; and last year she narrated Dirty Oil, a controversial documentary about the Alberta oilsands.
She realizes actors who speak out on political issues risk a backlash, but she's undeterred.
"I've been blessed to have a voice."
If some people don't like it, she reasons, "I can't worry too much about that."
kevin.williamson@sunmedia.ca
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